[HN Gopher] The Work, the Tech, and the Crime
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The Work, the Tech, and the Crime
Author : feross
Score : 38 points
Date : 2022-06-10 19:02 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (writing.kemitchell.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (writing.kemitchell.com)
| dvt wrote:
| > Neither should Congress or anyone else confuse the hype
| machine's capacity to invoke real grievances--banking access,
| financial consolidation, transfer network improvement, predatory
| lending, monetary policy--with capacity to solve them. The proper
| tools are known, but they aren't found in any "white paper". They
| are found on parchment, in the Constitution, vested in Congress.
|
| What a mouthful. Some problems are technology problems (e.g.
| "transfer network improvement"). Not sure what Congress has to do
| with solving these (read: nothing). Other problems are finance
| problems (e.g. financial consolidation, whatever that even
| means). Again, Congress has no say here, as these are problems to
| be solved by financial institutions (banks, funds, etc.). And
| others (e.g. predatory lending) are policy problems; here is the
| only place where Congress would have a say.
|
| > If our representatives tie themselves to blockchain with
| special favors, they will stand with it when the hustle grinds
| down, the debts come due, and full account is taken of its past
| as well as its promises. They should do the opposite.
|
| Nancy Pelosi consistently beating the market[1] is a meme at this
| point. How about we first solve the problem of congresspeople
| actively trading the very markets they're supposed to police? The
| entire post is just a confused hodgepodge of misgivings and
| grievances with no rhyme or reason.
|
| Blockchain bad, we get it.
|
| [1] https://www.fineprintdata.com/post/pelosistocks
| [deleted]
| thecosas wrote:
| I don't know that the tl;dr is "blockchain bad". What I took
| from it is that blockchain-based money movement shouldn't get
| special treatment compared to other ways to move money in
| regards to regulations (KYC, enforcement, etc.)
| UIUC_06 wrote:
| >Largely by repeating self-serving nonsense about how criminal
| use was negligible, banking regulations were illegitimate, and
| securities laws somehow did not apply--and finding enough lawyers
| willing to flatter the latter, and eventually work the litigation
| --the critical, interested mass of crypto players bum rushed the
| regulatory system.
|
| Exactly.
|
| >A scene being riven with datajackers, confidence men, and self-
| taught, emoji-adept bucket shop jockeys does not condemn others
| not so involved by abstract association, be they merely fools or
| holdout true believers. But neither do I support special
| accommodations for those in denial or indifference to the
| unwelcome company they keep. The way blockchain is going is
| largely bad, tragic, or both, not deserving of special leniency.
|
| Does it surprise anyone that the bottom-feeders have rushed in?
| If it surprises you, you must also be surprised that craigslist
| has turned into a cesspit, and NextDoor boasts the stupidest
| people on the Internet.
| [deleted]
| johndhi wrote:
| I am also a lawyer.
|
| I don't know - I have a lot of sympathy for your points but your
| experiences are so generally described that I can't really
| evaluate whether I agree with you.
|
| You are leaving out the vacuum created by the regulators. They've
| been massively absent and unclear. The legislators are afraid of
| scaring off $ and the agencies won't issue relevant guidelines. I
| don't blame (non fraud) entrepreneurs for trying to enter the
| space.
| jgeada wrote:
| Because bribery has ensured that regulators and regulation got
| strangled in the US. This has been a multi-decade effort, eg
| Regan's "Most Terrifying Words - 'I'm from the government and
| I'm here to help.'" propaganda meme etc. There is a reason that
| what is called blatant bribery pretty much anywhere else in the
| civilized world is called "free speech" and "lobbying" in the
| US, without any intended or perceived irony or sarcasm.
|
| Absent regulation, rules are defined by those in power for
| their convenience rather than for the public's benefit.
| mistrial9 wrote:
| us citizen not a lawyer -- the problems you state are so
| obvious, that they ALSO have been a multi-decade effort, to
| mitigate or control, with real rules, that are enforced.
| Specifically so that shrill, not-on-your-side people cannot
| dismiss the Entire System in a few words, as here.
|
| I am not a fan, nor making excuses, but its not constructive
| to oversimplify important, multi-step mechanisms
| rayiner wrote:
| Lobbyists are overwhelmingly people who make PowerPoint
| presentations to Hill staffers. What do you think they are?
| bluefirebrand wrote:
| People who spend a lot of company money to take Hill people
| on lavish vacations and provide expensive meals and then
| show a PowerPoint presentation.
|
| It's totally not bribery though, just good business.
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